Making History
by Arcawolf
Summary: Hiccup Horrendous Haddock has finally managed to take down a dragon, only to discover he doesn't have the stomach to kill it. So, he sets it loose and the dragon . . . flies away. That should be the end of it, but dragons have long memories, and destiny has a funny way of catching up to you. An AU in which Toothless never lost his tailfin.
1. Introduction

**I don't own anything associate with How to Train Your Dragon. It belongs to DreamWorks and Cressida Cowell.**

**This is my first fic both in this fandom and in first-person, so any tips/advice would be much appreciated. Anyways, this is just an introduction; the official first chapter should be posted later today.**

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**Introduction**

When you think of pests, most people only have to worry about bugs and mice. Some might have to worry about rabbits. But my village? We get to worry about _dragons_. And not just your ordinary fire-breathing reptiles, but dragons that can shoot spikes, dragons that can spit acid, dragons that _light themselves on fire_.

And yes, we have fire-breathing dragons, too.

But none are as feared as the dreaded Night Fury, the unholy offspring of lightning and death itself. No one has ever seen one before, except as a blur when it races through the sky. If it wasn't for all the damage it caused, we probably wouldn't know it existed. Because when it came to toppling watch towers, annihilating homes and just being a general pain, the Night Fury was definitely the best of them all.

Yep, the dreaded Night Fury . . .

. . . also known as the dragon I just released.

Yep. I had one right in front of me, completely helpless. Completely neutralized. Tied up by an invention I had made.

And I cut it loose.

And it . . . well, it jumped on me, nearly broke my ribs, roared a bit, and then it . . . it . . . it opened its wings and flew off.

Just like that.

Something tells me I should have thought out that plan a little more.

I probably should have felt guilty. I mean it's not just like I simply tripped and spilled my dad's dinner all over him (again); I just released the most feared dragon known to mankind. The others probably would have given me an award for that . . . in the form of a few fists and lots of blood.

I knew what I should have done, as a Viking. I just couldn't do it. I'm not entirely sure what I had expected to see when I looked into that dragon's eyes, but I knew I didn't expect to see fear and resignation. I didn't expect to see something so _human_. So like me. And once I saw that, well, that was the end.

So, yes, that's how it happened. I cut the dragon loose with the knife I had brought to kill it, and it flew off into the wild yonder. Now, I had to deal with the fact that I just _set loose a Night Fury_, and that I had absolutely no stomach for killing dragons, which was practically what my entire village was based around. I guess it's better that I found out now, before my dad let me train with the other dragon-slayers-in-training. Of course, now the question was what was I supposed to do with myself . . .?

Well, we've always needed more bread-making Vikings anyways.


	2. Chapter 1

**I don't own anything associated with How to Train Your Dragon. It belongs to DreamWorks and Cressida Cowell.**

**Wow. That was a much bigger reaction to the introduction than I had expected. I really hope I don't disappoint any of you. Special thanks goes to Mordmil for pointing out that the dragon species need to be capitalized. Anyways, here's the first chapter.**

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**Chapter 1**

So, let's reiterate. I, after fending off a dragon raid with a death-defying performance (by which I mean I almost got fried . . . again), took down the one dragon my village feared above all others. Naturally, everybody thought I was lying. So, being me, I calculated the general area where the dragon should have landed, and set off to find it. Then I let it go, and it flew away.

And that's where I am now.

I shielded my eyes from the sun as I stared up at the sky. Already, less than ten seconds after I had released it, the dragon was already out of sight. It had gone back to its nest, I guess. Probably getting ready for yet another raid on my village.

"Great going, Hiccup," I muttered to myself. "Now everything that dragon does is _my_ fault."

I sighed and looked down at the knife in my hand. It seemed pretty pathetic now. The dragon hadn't been that big, not as big as couple of regular Vikings stuck together, and certainly not as big as a Monstrous Nightmare, but it had been bigger than me. And the knife. What had I been thinking? Had I really expected to saw through a dragon's neck with this tiny thing?

Not like that mattered anymore.

Suddenly, I was feeling jittery, like it had finally caught up to my brain that the thing I released had been _a dragon_.

I glanced around. No one had followed me (I was pretty sure that if someone had, they would have jumped out when I stumbled upon the downed dragon). So, no one knew what I had done. They also didn't know I had taken down a Night Fury. I wasn't sure how I felt about that.

Either way, it was done. I couldn't take back what I had done now.

So . . . now what? Did I go back? I didn't have to; I had enough to stay out a while. Since I hadn't known how long it would take me to find the dragon, I had brought some smoked fish. Plus, considering the regularity with which I ran off into the woods, no one would come looking for me until night. Which was great if I needed some time alone, and terrible if the Night Fury came back and wanted to eat me.

But it hadn't earlier. So maybe . . .

Nah, it probably just wasn't hungry.

I walked further away from the village. I knew this was dumb. The smart thing to do was to head back to Berk. I just . . . I couldn't. Even if they didn't know I had released the Night Fury, I still had. And now I was realizing just how badly I had screwed up. No one would ever talk to me again if they knew. Especially Dad.

Wow, this entire situation was just _fantastic_.

So, I wandered around for a bit. Didn't find any other dragons, which was a _really_ good thing. But I did find this valley, although I don't think valley was the proper word for this. The walls of this place were cliffs, like Odin had reached down and tore a chunk out of the ground. Otherwise, the valley . . . cove thing was pretty unremarkable.

Except for this tiny little detail:

The Night Fury was flying around in it.

A gasp slipped out between my lips. I scurried over to the edge of the cliff, dropping down to my knees, and peered over its edge. The Night Fury didn't notice I was there. It was too busy circling a small body of water within the confines of the cove. At first, I had no idea what it was doing. Then its wings folded in, and it dove straight down into the water, re-emerging afterwards with a fish in its jaws.

"Whoa . . ."

Honestly, the dragon itself deserved that. It wasn't like the other dragons with their rough bumps and scales; the Night Fury had a very sleek appearance. I couldn't even tell if it _had_ scales. If it did, then the edges blended perfectly into its black body, so that they all appeared to be one giant piece.

The dragon tossed its head back, throwing the fish high into the air, before catching it again and swallowing it with ease. A big tongue wiped its lips clean, and then two massive wings stretched out on either side of the dragon as it eyed the water again.

I frowned. It seemed to have no trouble getting food on its own, so why did it keep invading a village filled with angry, violent Vikings? Then again, we hadn't been much of a challenge to it, until now. Maybe now it would leave us alone.

I watched the Night Fury catch a couple more fish, and then decided to head back. Smiling to myself, I pushed myself back up to my feet –

My foot slipped, knocking a rock off the edge.

The rock seemed to fall in slow motion. All I could do was watch, my mouth open in a silent scream, as it plunged down towards the ground below.

The rock hit.

The Night Fury went still.

Time stopped. Nothing moved. I couldn't even hear my own heartbeat. Meanwhile, the Night Fury was down below, very still, very much alert.

When the dragon spun around to face the rock, I inched backwards into the bushes. Okay, it hadn't seen me yet. Otherwise, I would be dead. Yeah, it was that simple. Thankfully, it seemed to be much more interested in the rock –

It looked up.

_It looked up._

Its wings snapped open.

I screamed. The dragon _shrieked_. I don't know what it did next, because I was a little preoccupied with _running for my life_.

Branches kept slapping me as I ran. Likewise, brambles, bushes and all the lovely, thorny foliage native to Berk seemed to have no other goal in mind apart from tearing me to pieces. The ground, too, was rough. My shoes bore the brunt of it, but occasionally, I'd feel a particularly hard bit through my soles. Of course, I must add that all of that combined was preferable to being caught by an angry Night Fury.

Speaking of which, where was it? I hadn't seen it since I started running. Maybe it hadn't followed me? I was in a dense forest after all, and dragons were clearly meant to be in the sky –

Wait, what was that? I could have sworn I saw . . .

Yep. There it was again.

There was definitely a Night Fury circling me.

Still running, I stared at the treetops. Through the branches and leaves, I could see a flash of black, otherwise known as the (very fast) Night Fury. I tried to think of some clever plan, tried to map out some route of escape, but I was coming up with nothing. It didn't help that, back at Berk, whenever someone asked about fighting a Night Fury, all Gobber and Dad would say was that there was no winning against a Night Fury. They were fast, they were smart, they were strong . . .

And they never, ever missed.

The whole ground shook as the dragon landed in front of me, far enough away that it couldn't eat me yet, but close enough that it would be silly to run. I'd always thought that the Night Fury would have yellow eyes, like a hawk, or a snake. This Night Fury, however, had green ones. Not that it made things any better.

It stood very firmly between me and home, wings half open, tail held out behind it, looking very, very big. It _really_ didn't look happy, but it wasn't attacking. Yet.

"Uh, nice dragon? Good dragon?" I backed away slowly. "I'll just be on my way . . ."

The dragon snarled.

"Okay. Oookay. Just stay calm . . ."

I went through my pockets. Uh, let's see, I had the paper with my calculations . . . that would just be fodder for the dragon's flames. I also had a knife . . .

The moment I pulled that out, the dragon snarled again. Louder. And this time, I saw teeth.

"Okay, putting that away!"

I tried to hide it back in my vest, but my fingers were shaking, I fumbled at the last moment. The knife fell forwards, and before I could anything more than look at it, the dragon swept forwards, and kicked it away.

I swallowed hard. The only other thing I had was my lunch.

"Uh, you hungry?" I asked. I dangled a strip of smoked fish in front of me. "Because I hear fish taste _way_ better than a skinny human like me."

The dragon, still baring its teeth, stalked closer. At this point, I couldn't tell whether it was eyeing the fish, or my arm. And . . . and _okay it was way too close_. I could actually feelit _breathing_ on my hand.

And then it actually touched my hand. I jumped with a small yelp, and the fish slipped from my stiff fingers. The dragon followed it down, and before I could blink, gobbled it up.

It looked back at me. It licked its lips.

It blinked.

It growled.

"Wait, wait!" I shouted, backpedalling frantically. "I got more!"

I threw another strip behind the dragon, and it immediately spun around. Taking advantage of that, I took off for home.

I ran for about half a minute before I heard the dragon screech. Now, a regular dragon screeching is scary enough. A Night Fury screeching? _Terrifying._

I immediately dove to the ground, arms over my head, just waiting to for heat to lick at my back, or to crumble into a pile of ash. It didn't happened though. There was definitely no heat; if anything, the sweat all over my body made me cold. Then, something cracked as the Night Fury landed on the trunk of a broken tree.

It was staring right at me.

"Come on, come on . . ." My fingers were shaking so much, I nearly tore my vest in half. But finally, I managed to grab more fish, just in time. With all the strength I could muster, I flung it far into the forest, and the dragon took off in that direction.

I got further this time. A _lot_ further before the dragon came back. This time, I looked inside my vest without breaking stride, reached for the fish . . .

There was none.

It hit me. That last chunk I had thrown, it had been the _entire thing_.

Before I could think, the dragon landed in front of me, cutting off my escape again. For a few seconds, we just stared at each other. Then it came closer, closer –

And went still. The dragon glanced backwards.

Then it took off into the sky.

"What . . .?"I stared dumbly after it. Even when I started walking home, I kept staring at the sky.

About a minute later, I walked into a group of Vikings, and then I understood. The Night Fury must have heard them and so, it fled, leaving me happily alive.

I sighed. At least the worst was behind me.

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" . . . dragon training starts tomorrow. See you there, lad!"

I already knew that from Dad, but Gobber's words hit me like a rock. A very big rock. Gobber didn't notice my reaction though, and smiled in a way that was probably meant to be friendly, but just ended up being creepy. Then, he limped away, probably to tell the other, much more deserving teens that they were also about to start dragon training. Teens that I would be training with; teens who also hated me.

Just what I had always wanted.

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**Edit: Whoops didn't notice the guest review**

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	3. Chapter 2

**I don't own anything associated with How to Train Your Dragon. It belongs to DreamWorks and Cressida Cowell.**

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**Chapter 2**

Days passed, and so did the dragon classes. We all stumbled out of the arena, damp and smelly. I had a nasty bruise on my right arm, courtesy of when today's specimen - a charming, plump Gronckle – had caught me with its tail. Apart from me, there was Astrid, who was entirely intact; then Fishlegs, whose helmet had a wonderful dent in it; Snotlout, who was still rubbing his sore back; and Ruffnut and Tuffnut, who were arguing over whose fault it was for getting taken out within the first three minutes.

So, in other words, we did pretty well today.

"Well, that was fun," I said. "What should we do now?"

The reaction was almost instantaneous. All heads turned in my direction and of the five bodies they were attached to, three immediately moved away from me. At least Ruffnut and Tuffnut were quiet about it. Snotlout took a giant step, complete with his own little, "Whoa!"

"Uh, something wrong?" I asked, pretending I didn't know what their problem was. I think I pulled it off; I had lots of practice.

Snotlout grinned. With an exaggerated roll of his eyes, he said, "As much as I would love to hang out, I got things to do. Right, Tuffnut?"

"Uh, yeah," Tuffnut said. He nudged Ruffnut. "In fact, we have to go with him!"

"See you later!" Ruffnut called. She, Tuffnut and Snotlout ran off, doing a rather poor job at hiding their snickers.

"So . . ." I turned to the other two. "Just us, then?"

"Just you two," Astrid said coldly. With that, she hoisted her axe onto her shoulder and walked off. I didn't dare follow her.

I looked hopefully at the last person here. "Fishlegs?"

Fishlegs shuffled his feet nervously as he wrung his hands together. "Sorry, Hiccup, but I told my dad I would . . ."

I waved him off. "It's fine. Maybe next time?"

"Maybe next time," he whispered.

I watched him leave, and sighed. Other than Fishlegs, Gobber was the only person who actually liked having me around, and he and Dad were currently off a mission to 'wean me off the forge', as Dad put it. Which meant I was on my own. Again. But it's not like I'm not used to that either.

I wandered off into the forest (the village could get so stuffy sometimes), but not before sneaking into the smokehouse to steal some fish. See, along with being forced into dragon training against my will, these days, I'm chased through the woods by a (or rather, _the_) Night Fury every so often. It hasn't eaten me so far, but that's because I take some food along as a kind of peace treaty. The kind of peace treaty that you throw really far so that you can run to safety. But it's worked so far, so I can't complain. The smart option would be to stay in the village but sometimes . . . sometimes I just need to not be around other people.

I hopped onto a log, and held my arms out for balance as I walked down it. The sun was out, and a ray of it fell through the leaves to blind me. All that made me think of was the sun, which made me think of the sky, which made me think of . . . the dragon. I did the math in my head: if the Night Fury was following a regular pattern, then it should be showing up sometime today or tomorrow.

I was so busy looking up at the sky that I nearly fell off the log. I moved back just in time to avoid the edge . . . only to slip on a patch of moss and land flat on my back. Once there, I didn't really feel a need to get up again. I just laid there, eyes skyward.

The seconds ticked by, and my brain was screaming that this was stupid because a dragon was due to come by any minute now. My body, however, appeared to disagree. Either way, I stayed where I was. Bored. Tired. The tiniest bit of excitement.

I sat up and brushed off my clothes, pondering that fluttering in my stomach. Was I actually looking forward to seeing the dragon? I mean, apart from the whole risk of dying thing, it was exciting. Except, you know, for the whole risk of dying thing.

"I really need to get a hobby."

No sooner than I said that, Snotlout crashed through the bush. Two seconds later, Ruffnut and Tuffnut tumbled out to stand beside him.

"Oh, hey, it's all of you guys," I said warily. These three together in front of me? Yeah, usually not a good sign.

"Hey, Hiccup the Useless. Didn't expect to see you out here," Snotlout said.

"Really?" I said, carefully backing away. "I didn't expect to see you here either, so that makes us even, right? I'll just be leaving . . ."

I didn't miss the way Ruffnut and Tuffnut were circling me. They were like a wolf pack, and Snotlout was in charge. He was standing in front of me, arms crossed over his chest, chin thrust out, you know, that sort of thing.

"Nice seeing you?" I squeaked.

On some telepathic, twin signal, Ruffnut and Tuffnut charged. I felt their hands squeezed around my upper arms and then the ground vanished from under me. There was split second of dizzyingly free-fall, then I slammed to the ground, and an elbow in my stomach forced out any air in my lungs. I stayed still. Even if it had just been one of them pinning me, the chances of me fighting them off were absolutely zero.

Then . . .

"Whoa! What was that?" Tuffnut reeled back. A beat passed, and then he grabbed the fish I had hidden in my vest, and held up it.

"Uh, what is that?" Ruffnut said.

"Fish," I said dully.

"I can see that, idiot!" Ruffnut snapped. "What's it for?"

"Probably so he won't stink so much," Snotlout said.

I sighed as the three of them guffawed. At least the fish had distracted them from attacking me. Once they stopped, they didn't usually start again.

Tuffnut groaned. "Come on, this is a waste of time. Let's get out of here."

As the three of them ran off, I called after them, "Thank you for apologizing!"

I wanted to kick something hard. Knowing me though, I'd probably stub my toe. So, I compromised by kicking around some things that couldn't possibly hurt me, like twigs, and leaves, and a couple of pebbles. It didn't do much to make me feel better, but it did tire me out a bit.

I collapsed onto the log, chin in my hands. Sometimes, I –

_Thump_.

I took a shaky breath.

Show time.

"I've been wondering where you were." I very, very carefully stood up and turned around. Yep, there it was: the Night Fury. "I was beginning to think you forgot about me."

The dragon's lips curled back and its mouth opened. For a second, I completely forgot how dangerous it was because it had no teeth. Not to say it was the lack of teeth itself that stunned me, but more so that every other time I had seen the dragon, it had appeared to have teeth. Had I been imagining things? Maybe it was an illusion created by the dragon?

"Toothless, huh?" I said. "I could have sworn you had teeth."

I realized then that Toothless was the closest thing to a title I had given the dragon, other than _the_ Night Fury. I guess it was as good a name as any. Besides, it's not like the dragon – uh, Toothless – understood what I was saying. Speaking of which, I still hadn't assigned a gender to the dragon. My automatic reflex was to call Toothless a male, mainly because the way he bullied and chased me around reminded me of Snotlout.

Anyways, Toothless was currently staring at me very, very intensely. His spine was arched a bit, like a big cat before it pounced. And unfortunately, apart from me, there was nothing else for him to pounce upon.

"Alright, you just stay there, and I'll get you some delicious . . ."

Wait, the fish. Where was it?

I searched inside my pockets. Then inside my vest. Then everywhere, turning frantically in circles as I rifled through every conceivable hiding place.

Then I remembered:

Tuffnut had took it.

I was so dead.

My back to Toothless, breathing so hard I might have been running a marathon, I stared at my empty hands. I wiped them on my pants, swallowed hard, and then turned around to meet my doom.

Toothless had gotten impatient. While I had been looking for my stolen food, Toothless had taken the chance to get closer to me. There was about a yard between us now, and even that was steadily decreasing.

"Look, I'm really sorry," I mumbled, "I don't have anything."

Toothless didn't slow down. Faced with that, there was only one thing I could do:

Run.

The terrible shriek rang through the air. I didn't even need to look back: I could hear Toothless's paws slapping against the ground. Judging by the lack of crashes, Night Furies were _much_ more agile on the ground than I had thought. It was a shame I wasn't going to be able to tell anyone since _I was about to die!_

Suddenly, my whole body jerked back. A cloud of warm, humid air trickled down my spine. My bones began to tremble, not only from fear, but from the rumbles of a growl.

Toothless had my shirt in his mouth.

I closed my eyes. "Dear Odin, let –"

My prayer was squashed when he threw me onto my back. Then, as if looking to make sure I couldn't speak, he stepped on me. Right on my chest. I swore I could feel my ribs bend under the weight.

My vision was filled with black. The edges of Toothless's head were traced with blinding light. I could just barely make out his green eyes.

This was it. I was going to die.

And to think I had been the one to set this dragon free.

I winced as scales roughly brushed against my cheek. Toothless was sniffing, and sniffing, and sniffing some more. Maybe he was trying to figure out what part of me was tastiest. He seemed especially interested in my chest, and I had no idea if that was a good or bad thing.

I was lifted off the ground for an instant. Then again. Toothless had hold of my vest. Maybe, maybe if I was sneaky, I could . . .

As Toothless continued to play around with my vest, I managed to free one arm. That left one more, and that would be easy to free. It was what would happen afterwards that was the problem.

Not like I had many options though.

I braced myself. Here goes . . .

In one graceful move, I pulled out of my vest and rolled free, clambering to my feet in a not-so-graceful move. I ran about ten steps before I noticed something:

Toothless didn't care. He was still sniffing my vest. As I watched, his tongue suddenly flicked out and licked the leather.

"What are you . . .?" Just then, an unbelievable possibility dawned on me. "Are you looking for the fish?"

It was entirely possible. Dragons had a great sense of smell. Maybe Toothless could smell that I originally had food with me. But then that would mean . . . that would mean Toothless hadn't really been attacking me. Toothless had just been trying to steal my food (well, his food technically, I guess).

Finally, Toothless gave up and stared at me. Maybe it was just my imagination, but he didn't seem as angry as before.

I held my open hands up. "Sorry bud, I don't have anything."

Toothless glanced at the vest. He glanced at me.

He pounced.

As I fell backwards, I held my breath, just waiting for Toothless to crush me again. This time, however, Toothless didn't land on me. His paws went on either side of my chest instead, and it was only his snout that touched me as he started sniffing again. I watched him, and it finally occurred to me that the spots Toothless was so insistent on checking were the same places that the fish had touched my clothes.

"You really are just looking for a handout," I said with wonder.

Toothless huffed. He suddenly laid his head on my chest, pinning me.

Well, this didn't look good.

Toothless's throat was splayed across my abdomen, and I could feel it going through some sort of contractions. Maybe he was preparing to breathe fire? Before the gravity of that thought could get a hold, his mouth suddenly opened and something slimy slid out onto my face.

Wonderful.

I picked it off and wiped myself clean. The thing Toothless had spat up, it was half a fish?

The weight vanished. Toothless went all the way back and sat on his hind legs, almost like how a person would sit. I picked up the fish and stared at it uncertainly. What, had the smell of me made him sick or something?

Toothless smacked his lips.

I blinked. "What?"

With his chin, Toothless actually gestured to the fish, then at me. Then smacked his lips again.

My mouth dropped open. "You want me to . . .?"

Toothless smacked his lips.

I stared down at the very whole, very raw fish. I can't believe I was about to do this.

But I guess it beat getting eaten by a dragon.

It tasted . . . fishy. I could almost pretend that it was just a regularly cooked fish, except it was _way_ too slimy. Plus, it was cold enough to know that it hadn't been roasted over a roaring fire, and also warm enough to remind me that this thing had come out of a dragon's mouth. Still, somehow, I managed to swallow a mouthful with a shudder.

I glared at him. "Happy?"

He made a weird crooning noise. Then, still on his hind legs, he took a few steps backwards.

And he took off.

I . . . I couldn't . . . what . . .?

What just happened?

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**Review Response:**

**IcePhoenix2112: And here it is! I won't give you any spoilers as to how the story proceeds, but I will say that although it will include the main plot elements of the movie, there will be major divergence :)**


	4. Chapter 3

**I don't own anything associated with How to Train Your Dragon. It belongs to DreamWorks and Cressida Cowell.**

**This is a Short chapter, so I'm uploading it before the weekend**

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**Chapter 3**

Alright, this was it. Based on my observations, Toothless seemed to show up every four days, and this time? This time I would be ready for him.

I snuck away from the other kids (which, seeing as they didn't want me there in the first place, was pretty easy), then found myself a nice clearing and waited. If Toothless could find me in the middle of the forest, he should have no trouble finding me here.

"Where are you?" I said into the wind. It answered by tickling my face.

Then, the wind seemed to pick up by the tree to my right. The leaves rustled violently, and the tops bent over a little. I stood up, knowing that it had nothing to do with the air, but rather a very fast dragon racing by them.

"Come on . . ."

Toothless slammed down in front of me.

". . . found you."

Just like last time, he started to growl. He had his wings held up in that arch where they weren't really open, but weren't really closed either. Unlike last time, I wasn't scared. Not that much. Seriously. Not at all.

Okay, yeah, maybe I was freaked out a little.

"Okay, so you're just here for food, right?" I asked, standing my ground as Toothless slithered closer to me. "And I seem to recall that you enjoy fish."

I slid out a fish from underneath my vest. Toothless immediately stopped growling. The flaps on his head went straight up, kind of like a dog's ears when it heard something.

I think I understood. All those times Toothless had growled at me before, it wasn't because he was mad at me; he was just smart enough to notice that when he growled, I usually threw food at him. It still didn't explain why he had vomited on me last time, but it was a start.

Toothless lunged, and I barely pulled the fish – and my hand – out of the way.

"Whoa!" I held my free hand right in front of Toothless's face. "I'm not going to just give it to you."

Toothless growled and tried to get around my arm.

"Uh, no. You're going to have to work for it. See this?" I pulled a fruit out of my pocket and bounced it on my palm. "This is something I like to eat, and –"

And he was gone. I guess he got bored.

I tossed the fruit away. That sure went well.

I'd just reached the edge of the clearing when Toothless returned.

"Oh, you're back, and what . . . what are you doing?"

Hindquarters wiggling, Toothless had crawled until he was right in front of me. He kept switching between staring at me, and at my vest. Uncertainly, I held my hand out. My fingers curled open –

And Toothless spat up a fruit – the exact same kind I had shown him – into my palm.

I couldn't believe it. Toothless had understood me. Easily, too! Now, he sat back on his hind legs again, waiting.

He smacked his lips.

"Oh, right!" I hurriedly held out the fish as far away from my body as I could manage. His toothless maw creaked open.

Then, teeth slid out from the gums into place, and he snatched the fish out of my hands.

Guess he did have teeth after all.

In my opinion, the way Toothless swallowed, closed his eyes in bliss, and licked his lips again was exaggerated. One eye opened, finding my face quickly. Then the second opened, too, and Toothless patiently sat on all fours. Before I could say anything, he hacked up another fruit.

"Sorry, bud, I only had one." I rubbed the back of my neck, unfortunately with the same hand I had used to receive the fruit. Which meant I now had a slobbery layer of dragon spit on my neck. Great.

Apparently, Toothless didn't believe me. He sniffed me, then forced his head between my vest and shirt. Finally, once he had determined that there was nowhere I could be hiding food, he groaned and walked away.

Yep, that was Toothless all right: losing interest the second I didn't have anything to give him.

He coughed up another six or seven fruit onto the ground, shaking himself afterwards with a shudder.

"You don't like them, do you?" I asked. Toothless had no idea what I was saying, so he just started to lick his paw. Seeing that, I figured he wouldn't mind if I took them . . .

Nope, never mind. The moment I had reached for one, Toothless had put his foot down (literally and figuratively). He didn't want them, but he wasn't about to let me grab one without giving him a fish.

"You know," I said, "I could always just come back later. Even the great Night Fury can't spend all his time guarding a pile of fruit . . . and you don't understand a word I'm saying, do you?"

Toothless yawned. He curled up around the fruit and laid down, his tail separating me from his head.

It was the first time I had gotten a good look at his tail. There were two sets of fins: one at the base of the tail, and one right below where the webbing of the wings attached to his body. Curious, I reached out to touch it. It was smoother than I thought –

Black spots danced in front of my eye.

My entire face felt raw, like someone had dumped painfully cold water on it. There was a sharp pang in the back of my head, too, which throbbed to the same rhythm as my heartbeat. At least my limbs seemed to be working.

I had no idea what had happened, not until I noticed that while, before, I had been right next to Toothless, now I was halfway across the clearing. That and Toothless looked _mad_.

"Sorry, sorry! Got it, no touching. Won't do it again! Promise."

Toothless cleared about half the distance between us, then huffed and stopped. We held our position for a few seconds more, then he suddenly hopped back, and landed right on the fruit. As I watched, he stomped them to a pulp, then gave me a smug look.

"Was that really necessary?"

Toothless made this weird sound that was a cross between coughing and laughing. Then he flew off.

I rolled my eyes.

What a drama queen.

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**Review Responses:**

**Guest who is really icephoenix: Aw, hope you get a new laptop soon. And Toothless might not have attacked Hiccup last chapter, but does slapping him with his tail here count as an attack?**


	5. Chapter 4

**I don't own anything associated with How to Train Your Dragon. It belongs to DreamWorks and Cressida Cowell.**

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**Chapter 4**

The shrill, wobbly whistle I heard was the kind of noise that a tortured deer would make. As it further increased in pitch, a flock of panicked birds burst into the air and fled, probably to somewhere far, far away. There was a moment of peace, and then the sound came again, nearly destroying my hearing.

Then, quiet. Fishlegs lowered his hands from his mouth and said, "Not very dragon-like, huh?"

"You think?" I whacked the side of my head, trying to get rid of the ringing. "I bet you could probably chase off a few with that."

"Maybe." Fishlegs looked at his homemade whistle uncertainly.

"Hey, at least we know what doesn't work," I pointed out.

"Yeah." He plucked idly at the tall grass around us. "I'm starting to think this is waste of time."

I sighed. "Dragons don't make anything easy."

Despite the conclusion we just reached, we still tried to fashion a grass dragoncall until the others stumbled upon us. Then, as you can predict, things quickly went downhill.

"What's up, losers?" Tuffnut sneered.

"Hey, Tuffnut." I said, letting his taunt roll off me. "We're just trying to make some dragoncalls."

Snotlout and Tuffnut started snickering, only to be whacked on the head by Astrid. She gave them an exasperated, almost annoyed look, and then walked forwards, cool and collected as always. Behind her followed Ruffnut, who stuck her tongue out at her brother.

"You're making _dragoncalls_?" Astrid asked me.

"Uh, kind of . . ." I tried to judge her reaction before giving a definite answer.

There was a pause before she asked, "Do they work?"

Fishlegs piped up. "Not yet, but we think we have a dragon repellent!"

He lifted his whistle to his mouth –

"No!" I slapped my hand over his mouth. "Uh, we might need to work on it a little more before we give a demonstration."

With my hand smothering him, the only sound he could make was gibberish. I smiled at him.

"Right," Astrid said. "You know, Hiccup, you might want to learn how to fight dragons before you try luring them in."

I winced as the others (except Fishlegs) started jeering. Normally, I could have shaken it off, but it was always worse when Astrid was the one insulting me because, well, because she was Astrid, but also because I wasn't always sure whether she meant to insult me. Of course, in the eyes of Snotlout and the twins, she definitely did.

Astrid sighed. "Come on, guys, let's go. And before I forget, your dad wants you, Fishlegs."

"Oh!" Fishlegs scrambled to his feet. "Uh, I'll see you later, Hiccup!"

"Sure," I said, waving him off.

Everyone else left, too. That meant I was alone.

Finally.

I tiptoed over to the center of the field, and pulled out a sack. Thanks to the insanely tall grass, Snotlout hadn't noticed it was there. Inside wasn't anything too impressive – just a bunch of fish – but if Snotlout or even Astrid had looked inside, it would have led to some awkward questions.

I made my way over to the cove where I had first found Toothless after I released him. We'd fallen into a bit of a pattern over the days, and the cove was our unofficial meeting spot.

You know, it was weird thinking about it. I mean, the fact that I was heading for a rendezvous with a Night Fury was pretty fantastic, but to think that we met often enough that we actually had a meeting place? No one would believe me if I told them. Vikings were supposed to kill dragons, and yet somehow, Toothless and I had happened.

Anyways, I was lying on the cove's ground, twirling a flower between my fingers, when Toothless arrived. I didn't even sit up, just waved and said, "Hey, Toothless."

Toothless gurgled, and trotted up to me.

"Alright, I got seven today. Understand? _Seven_." I held up seven fingers, and Toothless dutifully studied them, working out the number for himself. Once he had, he backed up, and then took off, returning a few minutes later.

Just as I had promised him, we exchanged seven fruit for seven fish. Toothless swallowed them whole, crooning with contentment afterwards. Then, he looked at me hopefully.

"I told you, only seven," I said. I rifled through my pockets, finding some leftover grass from earlier. "See? This is all I have left."

Naturally, Toothless had to sniff my hand to make sure I wasn't lying. I let him, scanning the area around –

Toothless started to purr.

I blinked, surprised. I started to pull my hand away –

Toothless jumped forwards, nearly knocking me over (remember that no touching rule? Yep, only applied to me touching him). He rubbed the back of his head against my hand, twisting until he fell onto his back. His paws flailing in the air, he tried, on his back, to lick the grass in my hand, or at least graze it with his teeth.

"Toothless, it's just grass!"

I put the grass back in my pocket, and Toothless cried out. He rolled back to his feet, bouncing on them like the ground was on fire. Then, he flew off again, returning soon after not just with some fruit, but _an entire branch of them_.

Stunned, I said, "Wow. You really want this."

I let the grass fall. Toothless was right on them. Even though there were only a few blades, he still insisted on rolling around in them.

"You know," I said, "if you like it that much, why don't I just show you where I found them?"

Toothless didn't understand me, so I crept close to him, and managed to snatch the grass back. Then, with him alternatively crooning and growling at me, I slowly led him back to the grass's natural habitat.

He was ecstatic.

At first, I think he was in shock. He just stared at the field, ears straight up. I had to coax him forward. Then, it's like his energy exploded. One moment he was next to me, the next, he was diving right into the field, frolicking like a child who had just discovered snow. He went down and rolled around in it, making visible circles.

I laughed, and walked up to where Toothless was rubbing his face in the grass. He purred, looking up at me with eyes that looked half-asleep.

I bent over. "Enjoying yourself?"

Toothless seemed to consider my words.

Then he reached up and _grabbed_ me.

He pulled me down into the grass with him, so that my back was against his chest, and started hugging the top of my head with his chin. I was willing to bet this was his way of saying thank you. Of course, the gesture nearly lost its goodwill when Toothless almost rolled on top of me! It was a good thing I was quick.

He got my legs, though. Now, he was lying across them, giving me no opportunity to stand. I could feel him trying to grind himself into the ground (and consequently, my shins), and his head pressed into my stomach. More out of instinct than anything, I scratched him behind the ears.

He went still. Then, he pressed further against me, clearly enjoying himself.

I smiled. "You're just like a giant cat, aren't you?"

He rumbled happily.

We played there (with Toothless constantly tripping over his own feet) until my stomach started to growl. At that point, Toothless vomited half a fish into my lap.

I pushed it towards him. "No thanks. You can have it."

Brushing the grass off my clothes, I stood and walked towards the village. Behind me, Toothless was warbling. Apparently, he still didn't quite understand that I couldn't speak dragon.

A nudge from behind. Toothless was driving his snout into my legs.

My heels left the ground as Toothless became more insistent. Then the balls of my feet. Then my toes. Suddenly, I found myself sitting on his head. Toothless quickly pointed that upwards, effectively dropping me onto his back.

I twisted around to a sitting position. "Are you giving me a ride?"

Toothless made his happy noises. He walked out of the field –

Right into a tree.

He took a step back, as if he hadn't noticed it was there before. He laughed a bit, then weaved his way around it, still unsteady.

"Are you feeling alright?" I asked.

Toothless purred.

His gait evened out as the time went on. Once it did, however, he stopped walking towards the village. So, I nudged him with my heels.

He went stiff. His head turned slowly, and his eyes went very wide.

I think he forgot I was there.

Within a second, I was thrown off and Toothless was running off in panic. My arm hurt a little from where I had landed on it.

Worth it.

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**Because everyone needs to see Toothless high at least once in their lives.**

**Review Response:**

**IcePhoenix2112: Well, at least you'll get a new one soon, right? RIGHT? XD. Anyways, lolzing at the innuendo in that other comment... I can assure you, there are no plans to make this a Toothcup fic :p**

**(Does forcing a poor innocent Hiccup to play in the grass also count as an attack?)**


	6. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Today, I discovered Toothless hates eels. I had brought him one for part of our usual trade deal, but he had freaked out when I presented it to him. Why Toothless is so afraid of eels, I still don't know. But it might be useful in the long run.

Anyways, I had taken the eel back and tossed it into the Zippleback's chow (Waste not, as Gobber likes to say) and to make up for the eel I had brought him, I was fishing in one of the inland rivers, far from the village. I'd been alone at first, but then Toothless had decided to show up and give me company.

It was nice of him, but catching these fish would probably be a lot easier without him around.

"Toothless, quit it!" I whined as he snapped at the tip of my rod.

Toothless ignored me. He went down into what I call his hunting crouch, and proceeded to swat at the rod.

"Alright, fine. Here, take it." I took the hook off, and then tossed it to him. "Go hungry."

Toothless happily pounced on the rod, then did nothing. Now that I wasn't holding it, it seemed like he had lost interest.

I swear, sometimes Toothless was just trying to annoy me.

"You realize I was doing that for you, right?"

Toothless huffed. He poked me, and then jumped back a few inches like I had spooked him.

I stared. "What are you doing?"

He was down in a crouch, standing sideways, making that little coughing-laughing sound of his. I immediately checked my clothes, but they didn't appear to be ripped. And my fishing rod was intact.

"Toothless . . ."

When I stepped towards him, he ran in the opposite direction. A second later, he was back, bouncing on his feet. He half-lunged at me, then spun around, charged that way again, and _then_ came back again.

I gave him a look.

Toothless crawled up to me. He was 'laughing' more insistently now, weaving around me so quick I began to get dizzy.

I stepped out of his circle. "You're crazy."

He nipped my leg.

I jumped. "You crazy reptile!"

Toothless slipped away from my grasp. He hadn't bitten me hard, but that wasn't the point. With my leg having stopped aching, I made a grab for him. He slipped away again, laughing.

I stopped short. I . . . think I was starting to understand. Toothless wanted me to chase him.

"Is that it? You want to play?" Hands on my knees, I stared Toothless in the eye. "Alright, I'm coming for you."

Toothless understood. His ears went up, and then he ran for the trees, me right on his heels. Or, that's where I was trying to be. Toothless was pretty quick, although he was slowing down for me.

I'd never played tag with a dragon before. Honestly, I hardly ever play regular tag. I am, however, well acquainted with '_run away from the person chasing me_', which served me well in this game. Dragon tag, it turns out, doesn't have a designated chaser. Sure, I spent most of the time chasing Toothless around, but sometimes, with no clear reason why, he'd turn around and rush me. Whenever that happened, I would turn and just run as fast as I could, until I realized he was no longer chasing me.

"Oh, Toothless!" I called, stretching the vowel out. I tiptoed through the undergrowth, searching for any sign of black scales. Dragon tag apparently involved a lot of hiding too, and ambushes from a playful Night Fury.

_Rustle_.

Smiling, I looked up. Toothless was perched on a branch above me.

He jumped.

"_Argh!_"

My shout of pain was enough to scare him off me. He hadn't broken anything, nothing I could feel at least, but he had landed on my stomach! Speaking of which, my stomach, just beginning to recover from being stomped on, was currently undergoing convulsions. It made a sour taste rise in my throat that I tried to spit away.

Toothless hovered above me. He looked into my eyes, and crooned.

"Please don't do that again," I said.

Toothless gave me space as I forced myself to sit up. Yep, that was as far as I was going. My stomach ached, and I really wasn't feeling up to running around anymore.

He sat down in front of me. His throat began to constrict –

"Oh, no you don't!" I slapped my hand over his mouth. "I don't need a fish, thanks."

He growled.

I froze for a moment. Then put my hand down. "Right, no touching."

Right then, my stomach flipped over. Bile rose in my throat again, although, thankfully, only that. Still, I put a hand on my stomach and groaned, keeling over at the waist.

Suddenly, I saw black.

No, I wasn't fainting. Toothless had just – literally – stuck his nose into my business. He used his head to lift mine up to its regular position, then laid his head on my lap, crooning softly. I think he finally understood he had hurt me.

Taking this as permission to touch him, I scratched behind his ears. "So, why did you show up anyways? You don't seem to want any fish . . ." (He got excited when I mentioned fish, and I had to convince him I didn't have any) ". . . does that mean you just wanted to play?"

It made some sort of sense. From the moment he had arrived, Toothless had been trying to steal my fishing rod.

Toothless purred as I continued to think. I was surprised, I'll admit it. Besides eating, finding food, and raiding my village, I didn't think dragons did much of anything. Of course, it's not like I put much thought into the matter. Apparently, though, dragons liked to have fun, too. It made me think; we didn't have much in the way of toys on Berk, but there were a few. Would Toothless like them?

It made me smile, to think of Toothless trying to play with a wooden ship. Toothless saw me, and slowly, his lips pulled back, revealing an oddly adorable – and toothless – imitation of my smile.

We stayed there for a while, me scratching him, him just enjoying himself . . .

. . .

. . .

. . .

I fell asleep, didn't I?

Toothless was gone, and it was dark out. I was lucky I hadn't been attacked by wolves or anything. Still, even though I was out in the middle of nowhere, by myself, and guaranteed to be yelled at by my dad when I got home, I was feeling pretty good. I had . . . I . . .

Hey, hold on. If me and Toothless had played together, did that make us _friends_?

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**Review Response: **

**IcePhoenix2112: Well it's been more than 3 days so I hope that means you're out of the hospital now :) And Toothless is just ridiculously cute in general ;p**


	7. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Considering how much of my childhood had been spent there, it was only natural that Dad and Gobber couldn't keep me out of the forge forever. Still, they had done a pretty good job of it; this was my first visit in weeks. It smelt just like I remembered: like charcoal, with that sharp, tangy undertone of molten metal. It was also still very hot; when I wiped my brow, my hand came back wet.

Exhaling deeply, I put my hammer down and rubbed my hands together. "I think that's everything, Gobber."

"Are the embers still burning?"

"No," I said.

"Did you light anything on fire?"

"Surprisingly, no," I said. "Everything's fine to go."

"Oh?" Gobber tapped his chin. I think he was trying to think of something I did wrong. "Oh! Did you sharpen Astrid's axe? Wouldn't want to forget that, eh?"

I ignored the sly note in his tone.

"That is also done." I grabbed Astrid's sharpened axe, and let the heel hit the ground.

Wait a second. This was Astrid's favourite axe.

I quickly let go of it, and pretended I hadn't touched it. Ever.

"So," I walked up behind Gobber, hands locked behind my back, "you need anything else?"

"No, that's everything, lad."

"Alright, I'll just be on my way . . ."

"Not so fast." Before I could leave the forge, Gobber snagged the back of my shirt with his hook and pulled me back. "Hiccup, what's going on with you?"

"I-I . . . I . . . I" I stuttered that one word over and over again. Gobber knew something was up? What was I supposed to tell him! I certainly couldn't tell him the truth. And how did he know I was up to something, anyways? I thought I had done a fantastic job at hiding it.

Gobber's eyes narrowed. "Spit it out, lad."

"Look, I don't know what you're talking about," I said. "Nothing's wrong. I'm perfectly fine, and –"

"And that's just it!" Gobber broke into a huge grin. "You're so _happy_, so peppy! Reminds me of when I was a boy."

A tad insulted, I said, "And I wasn't before?"

"You were about as happy as a limp toadstool," Gobber said. "But now? You're glowing, Hiccup. I've never seen so much light in your eyes."

I couldn't myself from smiling. "Yeah, well, I've been having a good week."

"Finally getting along with the other teens, are you?" Gobber put his arm around my shoulder, hobbling beside me as I walked out of the forge. "See, I knew this dragon training business was a good idea."

I snorted. Poor Gobber had no idea that dragon training was the worst thing that ever happened to me. "Yep. Real good."

"It's a good thing I told your Dad so, eh?" Gobber winked, nudging my shoulder. "Otherwise you'd still be in there grinding down swords by your lonesome."

I laughed.

Then, it hit me.

"Hold up, did you . . . did you talk my dad into letting me train with the others?"

"I sure did!" Gobber said proudly. "And look at the good it's done."

Something heavy dropped into my stomach. The gentle warmth from the forge that had clung to me suddenly vanished, replaced by the bitter cold of the night air. I shivered, rubbed my arms, accidentally (or maybe deliberately) wriggling free of Gobber's arm.

"Oh. Uh, that's great." I managed a crooked smile. "Well, thanks for talking to him."

"Something wrong, Hiccup?"

"No! Nothing's wrong." I looked down as I suddenly noticed the intensity of his stare. "I just thought that, well . . . that Dad made that decision on his own."

Silence. Seeing that I was staring at the ground, I couldn't see Gobber's reaction. I felt him, however, squeeze my shoulder.

"He'll come around," Gobber said. "Once you start slaying those dragons, he won't be able to stop talking about you!"

I swallowed hard. "Once I start killing dragons."

"That's right! Now, how about we see that joy again?" Gobber stuck his finger into my face, forcefully stretching my mouth into a rough smile. "Don't you worry, Hiccup. Fighting dragons is easy! Soon, you'll dragging home corpses larger than your Dad!"

I know Gobber was trying to comfort me, but it was having the opposite effect. Every time I tried to think about killing dragons, I would see Toothless bound by rope again, helpless. Sometimes, I'd see him rolling in the grass, or trying to eat my hair.

I didn't know what I was going to do, but I couldn't kill dragons. Not now, not ever.

Suddenly, I heard something. It sounded like a low buzz at first, but then it got louder, sharper.

And someone blew the warning horn.

"Dragons!" Gobber shouted. He pushed me sharply from behind. "Go on, Hiccup. Grab your weapon, and let's go make your old Dad proud!"

My legs moved automatically. Behind me, Gobber was cheering with excitement, but the only emotion I felt was dread.

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**Review Responses:**

**Licorice: And here it is! :)**

**randomreader WITH a profile: Thank you! As for how Hiccup is going to end up riding Toothless... yeah, haven't gotten there yet XD**

**Jazz: Thank you! Updates are weekly, and are sometime between Saturday and Monday (with an occasional additional update midweek).**

**icephoenix: Tsk, tsk. On your phone at a sleepover? For shame! X) I do take some pride in knowing that my story was more exciting than the party, however ;)**


	8. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

"Move it, shortstuff!" Ruffnut barked as she pushed past me.

"Hurry up, everyone!" Gobber shouted. "Grab your weapons, and let's get dragon fighting!"

Fighting dragons? This was my worst nightmare come true. Even though the warning horn had sounded only a couple of minutes ago, dragons had already descended on the scene. The sheep were bleating in terror, dragons and Vikings were roaring at each other, and though it all, I could still hear my pulse, painfully fast. Orange plumes were rising up among the houses, strikingly beautiful against the backdrop of the night sky. Of course, seeing as this wasn't a picture, but the village I actually lived it, it was also terrifying.

"Come on, Hiccup!" Before I could speak, Gobber shoved an axe and shield into my arms. "You're not going to do much just standing there."

I rubbed the back of my head. "About that . . . You know, I'm still struggling with this whole dragon fighting stuff. Why don't I sit this one out?"

"Oh, no, you don't." Gobber shoved me towards the battle. "You're not chickening out on me, Hiccup."

"I'm not chickening out!" I protested. My heels dug into the ground as I was forced forwards. "I'm just being realistic."

Gobber spun me around.

"You're a Viking now, Hiccup," he said softly, yet firmly. He plopped a horned helmet onto my head. "Now, go get 'em."

Holding his own axe above his head, Gobber hollered and ran off to join the fray. Guess it was time to give it my all.

And by give it my all, I meant 'hide in the shadows and hope no one saw me'. Gobber told me once that the dragons would ignore me and go after the bigger guys; now, I would find out how true that was . . .

Well, it worked for about ten minutes. It probably would have worked longer, too, only Snotlout and Astrid caught sight of me. Fortunately, they thought I was trying to get the jump on a dragon, not hiding from them; unfortunately, Astrid thought it fit to wave me over, and it's not like I had a good reason to ignore her.

Astrid shoved me back against a wall. "There's a Gronkle heading straight towards us. When I give the signal, we jump out and attack! Got it, Hiccup? You don't move _until I give the signal_."

"I hear you," I said. I held the axe close to my body, fumbling as it nearly slid out of my hands. "Wait for the signal."

Astrid nodded curtly. "Okay. One . . . two . . . now!"

She and Snotlout burst out, screaming. I followed, screaming what to my ears, was a very lame and dry war cry. The Gronkle shuddered visibly, confused by the noise.

"Hi-ya!" Astrid's axe gleamed as it closed in on its prey. The Gronkle saw the blade coming just in time, and wobbled out of the way. Its mouth opened; deep inside, an orange glow lit up its throat. But then Snotlout whacked its head with his shield, and the Gronkle's fire stopped before it could be shot.

"Don't just stand there, Hiccup," Snotlout yelled. "Do something!"

"Do something?" I echoed. "Right. Uh, just give me a moment . . ."

The Gronkle flew backwards, finally having enough. It started to retreat down the street.

Thank you, Odin.

"Hooray, it's gone," I said. "Now why don't we go somewhere else?"

Astrid looked back at me. Her smile was vicious.

"Oh no," she said, "this one is _not _getting away."

"Guys!" I shouted after them as Astrid and Snotlout chased after the Gronkle. Should I follow them? If I did, I might actually have to fight the dragon, but if I didn't . . .

Actually, it made no difference if I didn't. It's not like I would be able to convince the other two to leave the dragon alone. They weren't like me; they were real Vikings. And Vikings killed dragons.

So, I went back to hiding. Around me, Vikings thundered past, too focused on the fight to notice me. Likewise, the dragons were too focused on the hairy, screaming Vikings to make time for a toothpick like me.

Then, a giant passed into my vision.

Okay, so maybe that was an exaggeration, but when you're crouched behind a barrel, then Dad does look a lot like a giant.

He was wielding a sword today (Dad was one of those Vikings who could decapitate a dragon with any kind of weapon. Even a shovel. Seriously!). I couldn't tell if the stain on the blade was just a trick of the light, or actual blood. And I didn't want to know.

Dad raised his sword high in the sky, pounded his chest and cried, "Alright, where are you? Come and get me, dragons!"

I whispered, "Please don't listen to him."

But they did. A mere second after Dad had declared his challenge, a dragon roared. I felt the building I was next to shake as _something_ landed upon it. Dad turned his eyes straight to the roof; had he looked down a little more, he would have been staring at me.

As I watched, a Monstrous Nightmare climbed off the roof and onto the ground. It and Dad circled each other, both snarling, both growling.

The Nightmare went alight. The red and yellow hues of its flames reflected in Dad's helmet and sword, giving them a surreal colour. I could tell that Dad wasn't scared, not in the slightest. He had complete confidence that he would slay this beast.

And I knew he was right.

_Screek! _

No. No, no, no! It can't be; It _CAN'T_ be him -!

"NIGHT FURY!"

A cloud of purple sparks and black dust engulfed one of the watchtowers. Amidst the crackling of the flames, there were cracks and snaps as the tower collapsed.

That wasn't the worst of it. When Dad heard the tower break, he did what anyone would do: he fought not to look back, which meant he _hesitated_. And the nightmare _saw_.

"No!"

In hindsight, Dad would have been fine without my interference. But by the time I realized that, I had already thrown my shield at the Nightmare's head. It hit the dragon in the back leg instead, but got the job done. The Nightmare's murderous eyes slowly turned from Dad to me, and I swore it grinned.

I stopped breathing. Dad was frozen. I might be wrong, but I think the fact that I attacked a Monstrous Nightmare had put him in a temporary coma.

Until it moved.

"HICCUP!"

I screamed and bolted as the Nightmare came after me. It was too big to fit in the streets, but it didn't need to; it hopped from rooftop to rooftop instead, always a second behind.

Then Fishlegs poked his head out from behind a wall. "Hiccup, over here! We got a Zippleback coming!"

"_Get out of the way_!" I screamed.

Fishlegs looked confused. Then, I saw horror spread across his face. He slipped back behind the wall, shouting, "Guys, we have a major problem!"

Moments later, Astrid peeped out. Her mouth opened in a perfect 'O' –

Hot air blasted my face. The ground before me exploded into heat and orange motes. My body pulled back on instinct; my arms rose to protect my face. And crumbs of rubble bounced as the dragon landed behind me.

I turned to look straight at the opening mouth of the Monstrous Nightmare.

_This was the end_. The thought bounced through my mind, numbing everything it touched, until I felt barely anything at all. I dropped the useless axe, and it landed with a resounding _clank_. I could hear Dad shouting, Astrid shouting, and other people, too. But I didn't really care. It didn't matter.

And there was something else I heard. A high-pitched sound, a screech . . .

"NIGHT FU –"

Darkness.

* * *

It was dark, and warm. And painful. Not nearly as painful as I thought being eaten by a dragon would be, but I was still in some pain. It was also . . . soft?

I groaned, and wiped the gunk out of my eyes. When they fluttered open, it was to a familiar sight: my room's ceiling, to be exact. I sat up, and studied myself. Nothing appeared to be missing, I didn't see any burn marks, and I could still move everything. I didn't seem to really be injured. Did that mean I was dead?

"Oh, Hiccup? You're awake!"

Something clattered to the ground as Dad ran to my bedside. I just stared at him, puzzled.

"What happened?" I asked.

Grimly, Dad said, "The Night Fury."

"The Night Fury?" I shook my head wildly. "No, it can't be . . . it couldn't . . ."

_He wouldn't do that to me. Would he?_

"I'm just as surprised you're still alive as you are," Dad said quietly.

"So, I survived a hit from a Night Fury?" I asked dubiously. _No one_ ever survived a direct attack from a Night Fury.

Dad hesitated. "Not quite. The Night Fury, it fired alright, but it didn't hit _you_. It hit the Nightmare."

"To- . . . The Night Fury attacked the dragon attacking me."

"Yes," Dad said. "The Nightmare flew off right after, but it was hurt."

I stared at my entwined hands. "Why?"

"I . . ." Dad's face screwed up as he thought hard. "I guess the Night Fury missed."

Missed? But Night Furies _never_ miss. They _always_ hit their target.

And the more I thought about it, the more I was convinced Toothless _hadn't_ missed.

* * *

**Review Responses:**

**AnAnonymousMoose: Thank you! I thought it would be an interesting idea to play with**

**IcePhoenix2112: Oh, well then I guess that's okay. And don't worry, I'm not mad. It was a bit fillerish. But Toothless can't be high in every chapter ;p**

**randomreader WITH a profile: Heh, I DO see what you did there!**

**Fanfiction Bard: It's Toothless with friends :)**


	9. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

For the first couple of days after the raid, Dad hovered. Gobber spent an excessive amount of time inquiring about my wellbeing too, but I had grown to expect that. Yep, it was definitely Dad's attention that was out of the ordinary. I honestly had no idea how to feel about it. On one hand, it meant me and him spent an unusual amount of time together; on the other hand, I was pretty sure the reason Dad was so worried was because I wasn't a 'proper Viking' and thus, he couldn't comprehend the idea that I had shrugged off a dragon attack – even if the dragon hadn't actually been attacking me.

Okay, getting a little whiny there. I guess, to be fair, there was some reason to worry. No one has ever survived an attack (or a pseudo-attack) by a Night Fury, or been so close to the impact site of its flame. There was no telling what the consequences could be (and yes, I had overheard Dad and Gobber discussing that very topic).

But I wasn't sprouting wings and I had yet to feel anything beyond the spectrum of usual emotions, so I was assuming that I had nothing to worry about.

Dad finally let me out of the house on the third day. By that time, all the clean-up from the raid was done (Berk had gotten pretty fast at that over the years). So, it was like nothing had happened. At all.

Except for all the stares. Everywhere I went, I could feel stares burning into my back. When I turned around, I would lock eyes with this group of villagers or the next, and then after a few tense seconds, they would look away. That didn't bother me. It happened _way_ too often for it to do that.

What did bother me were the feelings behind it. Usually, when people stared at me like that, the secret message was something along the lines of '_Why are you here, Hiccup?'_ or '_What did you do now, Hiccup?_'. These stares, however, were different. They were tense, cautious, fearful.

What had Dad been telling them?

When I walked into the Great Hall, I, to my _great_ joy, found all the other teens inside. Before I had entered, they had been talking freely. Now? Now, they had hushed up. They were staring at me with wide eyes, like I was some new species of dragon.

I glanced at my reflection in a bowl. Nope. Nothing on my face.

"Hey, guys," I said. I sat down at the table with them, trying my best to give them a friendly smile.

"Hey," Fishlegs said weakly. When I caught his eye, he turned his eyes to the tabletop instead.

Well . . . at least they hadn't switched tables yet. They were playing the '_Let's pretend Hiccup's not here and maybe he'll go away'_ game. Although, it seemed a little different this time. They, all of them, kept glancing at me from time to time. And Tuffnut, while he ate, chewed a little too vigorously, a little too quickly.

"So . . . what I'd miss?" I asked.

The silence was deafening.

Snotlout turned. His face was oddly serious, and that only served to further my doubts. My cousin wasn't exactly the sort of guy to worry about you when you were locked inside your own home.

I braced myself for the worst.

In a low voice, Snotlout asked, "How did you do it?"

I looked at him, puzzled. "Do what?"

"You know." When I continued to stare at him, he prompted, "The Night Fury."

"Oh. That," I said loudly. I leaned back in my chair, putting as much space between them and me as possible without being obvious. At this point, I had no idea if they were impressed, scared, or something else entirely.

"How did you do it?" Snotlout repeated. "How did you survive?"

"Uh, well, it didn't actually hit me," I told them truthfully. "I guess it just missed."

"Night Furies don't miss," Fishlegs said quietly.

My voice rose a little. "Yeah, well, maybe I'm just so small it didn't see me."

"But why would it attack the Nightmare?" Astrid pressed, leaning closer to me. She didn't have her axe, but she was just as intimidating as always.

"I don't know!" I jumped to my feet, making the other flinch back in alarm. "I don't know, okay?"

None of them said anything. It was pretty obvious they didn't believe me.

Unbelievable.

I stormed out of the Great Hall. Not that that put an end to the stares. I tugged at my hair, opening my mouth in preparation for an exasperated scream, when I saw other Vikings watching me.

Furious, I demanded, "Can I help you?"

In hindsight, yelling at them wasn't a very good idea, since it's basically inscribed in the heart of all Vikings that violence should be met with violence. Luckily, save for a slight hardening of their eyes, they didn't react much to what could have seen as an act of aggression.

Yeah, I needed to get out of here before something bad happened.

I shoved my way into the forest, just wanting to get away from all the stares. And just when I thought I had, just when I got far enough away from the village that I could finally breathe, guess who decided to show up.

Toothless.

He perched in front of me, staring.

"You, too?"

Toothless growled. He circled me, hissing the entire time.

"Hey, don't get mad at me! This is _your_ fault." Toothless started forwards, but I bopped him on the nose and said, "Uh, yes it is. If you and your friends hadn't been attacking us, this wouldn't have happened."

Toothless stood on his hind legs and screeched into my face.

"Stop yelling at me!"

Toothless screeched back.

I threw my hands up. "And I'm done here!"

I tried to calmly walk away, but Toothless wasn't having that. He stalked after me, continuing to yowl and hiss, until the sounds started to blur.

"Why are you so mad at me?" I spun around, annoyed. "I'm the one who should be angry. Thanks to you, everyone is treating me like . . . like . . . worse than before."

Toothless yowled.

I scowled. "Forget it. Even Berk is better than this."

I stomped back towards the village, eager to leave Toothless and his complaining behind. Toothless growled as I passed him, raising his wings in a threat display, but I didn't care. He could have talked, and I wouldn't have turned back for that.

Then, he grabbed me.

By the hair.

"TOOTHLESS!" It hurt a lot less than I expected it would, but being yanked back by my hair was still painful. I cried out; Toothless released me, then grabbed my shirt. One last tug, and then I was on my back.

He sat on me.

"Stupid dragon," I muttered. Surprisingly, it didn't really hurt. There was just a lot of pressure, and it wasn't so easy to breathe. I tried to wriggle free, getting nowhere. Toothless watched me, looking bored. He lay down, still on top of me.

"I . . . I don't believe this!" Dirt clotted under my nails as I tried to pull myself free. Failing that, I tried to shove him off, but he wasn't budging. "You . . . argh . . . useless reptile! Come on, _move_."

Toothless yawned.

I pushed. I shouted. I cursed. I screamed. Eventually though, my arms began to ache, and there was a dull burn in my throat. I went limp, half-heartedly glaring at the overgrown lizard atop me. He wasn't going to move until he felt like it.

I sighed. "So, we'll just sit here. Great. I would have thought you had better things to do."

Toothless ignored me.

"I mean I have a village to get back to, people to see, and you . . . you have, uh, dragon things to do, I guess."

Silence stretched on. The lull allowed me to think a little, to let my anger quell and some cousin of guilt seep in.

"I'm sorry," I said. "I get it. You're mad that we hurt your friends; believe me, fighting dragons was not my idea. But let's not forget that you attacked us first, okay? Truce?"

Of course, Toothless couldn't understand a word I said. He must have heard something though, because he suddenly stood. I crawled out from under his belly, letting my bruised lungs get a full mouthful of air.

"Much better." I dusted myself off. Toothless was watching me, so I offered a thanks.

Toothless leaned in. His eyes narrowed.

He licked my hair. That was fine, until I realized he was deliberately slobbering all over it.

"_Why would you do that_?"

Toothless leaned in again. He sniffed my hair, and then warbled.

I glared at him. "Sometimes I hate you."

Toothless did an odd thing with his shoulders, like he was shrugging. Then he trotted off.

"And where do you think you're going?"

Toothless seemed to sigh.

He whacked my face with his tail.

* * *

**Review Responses:**

**ILOVEPIXELS: Thank you! Might I mention that I usually update on weekends so you don't have to check everyday :) (And sure, get an account! Ffn is a pretty easy site to navigate)**

**Jazz: Hooray! A for me! And don't apologize; I'm just happy you reviewed :)**

**IcePhoenix2112: Yes, the story makes much more sense when you remember that. ;) Now go to sleep and get untired!**

**randomreader WITH a profile: Thanks!**

**SunnySides: Glad you liked it!**


	10. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

Today was a _wonderful _day. Not only did I finally get out of the house to discover I was the village freak, but the same dragon that had made everyone think I was a freak had turned around and decided it was hilarious to drool all over my hair. On the bright side of things, save for a few strands, it had mostly dried. I smelt a bit like smoke though.

Just when I was thinking things couldn't get worse, I pushed my way through the branches and back into the village . . . and ran right into Gobber.

"Hiccup, there you are! I've been looking all over for you." Gobber asked. He slapped me on the back, nearly knocking me over. "Dragon training's in two minutes. We'll be playing with the Deadly Nadder today!"

Of course we were; it was Tuesday, after all. Otherwise known as the worst day of the week. While I hated dragon training on the best of days, I especially hated dragon training with the Nadder. Nadders were ridiculously quick and agile, like a winged hare that had eaten too many mushrooms. Combining them with a clumsy, gawky person like me . . . it was a recipe for disaster. It didn't help that Gobber liked to stack things in favour of the Nadder.

His hook snagging my collar, Gobber dragged me into the arena, where I found he had set up a tall maze. I groaned. I'd done this before; I knew what would happen. We'd run through the twisting maze, and the Nadder would be perched on the walls above, picking us off one by one. It would go after Tuffnut and Ruffnut first, because they couldn't keep their mouths shut, then Fishlegs because he was as awkward as me, and then the fun would really start.

"Alright, grab your weapon, Hiccup!" Gobber called.

I walked over to the weapon rack, where everyone else was already waiting. Most of them didn't say much, but Snotlout jeered, "Hey, if it isn't the star of the raid!"

I sighed.

Astrid rolled her eyes. "Whatever," she said. "What happened in the raid doesn't matter. You know the drill, Hiccup."

"Stay out of your way," I droned.

Astrid pointed at me. "Don't you forget it."

When the Nadder was released, I did exactly as I was told. I tiptoed through the maze, staying far away from Astrid. The twins were already arguing, and I could hear Snotlout loudly making excuses for something he had done.

"Ruffnut, Tuffnut, you're out!"

And that was two down. I counted down the seconds until Fishlegs was eliminated (two hundred and sixty five . . . longer than I expected). That left the three of us, soon to be two.

"Make way!" Snotlout shouted. He came barging through the corridor I was waiting in, the Nadder hot on his heels. I pressed into the wall, holding my shield in front. Snotlout ran past me, and so did the Nadder, too focused on the hairy, screaming boy to worry about me. Snotlout, while attempting a turn, smashed right into one of the maze's wall. Both he and it fell over with a plop.

"Hah, take that, wall!" Snotlout said. He grinned –

And the Nadder was on him.

I watched with mild interest.

To Snotlout's embarrassment, Astrid charged in to his rescue. She slammed her axe (the head of the axe, not the bit; we weren't supposed to kill the dragons just yet) into the Nadder's head. The Nadder reeled back with a shriek, stumbling backwards, and retreated to the safety of the maze's walls.

Right above me.

This could only end well.

Wings spread, the Nadder hissed in Astrid's direction; it hadn't noticed I was there. It continued not to notice I was there, until Astrid finally recognized me hiding behind my shield. That moment where her eyes widened, where she paused, was everything the Nadder needed to know something was up.

It looked down.

I smiled awkwardly at it.

In all honesty, I can't really blame the Nadder for how it reacted. If I had looked down to see a Terrible Terror at my feet, I would have kicked it. Similarly, the Nadder jumped right onto my back, knocking my helmet off and me down, and stomped on me. I should have been done after that, but hanging out with Toothless had given my body tolerance against random assaults by heavy weights, and the Nadder was lighter than Toothless was.

Since I was pinned to the floor, my cheek being ground into the dirt, I had a very weird view of Astrid. She was scowling, looking a bit frightened, or maybe worried; it was hard to tell when she was sideways. She raised her axe high, charged –

The Nadder's talons dug into my back as it stiffened.

Several sharp clangs rang through the air as the Nadder shot spikes, which bounced off Astrid's shield. She was close enough to us that I relaxed, knowing that in a few moments, I would be free to move and Astrid would be beating up the poor dragon.

Then the dragon switched what it was shooting.

She blocked the fireball – of course, she did. She's _Astrid_ – but the impact was still enough to send her flying backwards. In the corner of my eyes, I saw Gobber rushing in to interfere, which was a red-hot warning that this fight had spiralled out of control. The Nadder roused its flame again.

And aimed at me.

For the third time in the arena, I found myself in mortal danger.

. . . Gobber _really_ needed to reconsider his safety precautions.

For the third time in the arena, I miraculously didn't die.

The Nadder's mouth snapped shut. It stuck its snout right into my hair, and sniffed. And sniffed again. And again. Meanwhile, Gobber and Astrid were slooowly creeping forwards, torn between helping me and not spooking the Nadder into killing me.

The Nadder backed off.

My spine popped as I went up into a sitting position. The Nadder was staring at me, neck bent so that we were eye-level. Its nostrils flared dramatically. It stuck its snout into my hair again.

And it backed off..

My eyes were on the Nadder, so I couldn't see the others, but I knew what their expressions would look like. The Nadder was . . . it was just leaving me alone, and I had no idea why.

Astrid whispered, "Hiccup?"

A pause.

The Nadder shrieked and went after her.

Astrid could have easily taken care of herself, but my weirdness had been enough for Gobber. He hooked the Nadder by the inside of its snout, and then tugged it over to its cage, where he locked it securely inside. He turned around after, staring straight at me. Everyone was, actually.

"How did you do that?" Astrid demanded.

I looked at her. Truthfully, I said, "I have no idea."

* * *

**Review Response: **

**IcePhoenix2112: Haha, you got it! It's true that Hiccup was carrying a bit of Toothless's scent, but it wasn't distinct enough at that point for the other dragons to leave him alone**

**ILOVEPIXELS: Thank you! I'm sure most people see you, it's just that not everyone responds to anon reviews. I do because I like talking to people :)**

**Jazz: Oh dem parents XD**

**Matt: Thanks!**


	11. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

"So, Hiccup, what's your secret?"

When I heard Tuffnut asking me that, I was torn between lying, and getting out of there as fast as I could. However, as I found, hesitating wasn't the best choice. They all noticed, and immediately focused on me.

I'd rather have the Nadder back.

"I told you," I said. "I don't know."

Astrid asked, "Why did it stop attacking you?"

"Maybe it's just me," I suggested. "You guys wouldn't know, but I can be pretty scary."

Tuffnut and Ruffnut burst into laughter.

"I'm being serious," Astrid said.

I smiled awkwardly. "Maybe I am, too?"

Gobber snorted. "Good one, Hiccup!" he said, slapping me on the back.

I rubbed the back of my neck. "Yep, that's me. The joker. Now, I'll just be leaving . . ."

"Oh, no, you won't!" Astrid marched right up to me, jabbing me in the chest with her finger. "I asked you a question, and you're going to answer it!"

"I don't know the answer," I said slowly.

Gobber clapped his hands together. "Alright, why don't we call it quits for the day? The Zippleback is up tomorrow, so you all best be getting some rest."

Astrid ground her teeth together. She wasn't happy, but I thought I had gotten away with this . . .

At least, I thought so until Snotlout said, "You know why the dragon isn't attacking him? It's because it realizes that, compared to everyone else, he isn't a threat. I mean, he just stands around all the time and does nothing."

I said, "No, that' s . . ."

"That actually makes a lot of sense," Astrid said.

Snotlout puffed his chest out. "I'm a pretty smart guy, Astrid."

But Astrid was ignoring him in favour of me, which, for once, was not a good thing. "_You_."

I held a hand up. "Hi."

"You need to stop fooling around!" Astrid cried. "You keep acting like . . . like this is some sort of game! Does this even mean anything to you? Do you even care that –?"

"Astrid, that's enough." Gobber put his hand on my shoulder in what I suspected was a comforting gesture.

"No!" She sounded on the verge of exploding. "He needs to hear this."

"Astrid." Gobber's tone dropped. "He's doing the best he can."

"Well, his best isn't good enoughh!" she spat.

My heart dropped into my stomach. Although I wanted to, I couldn't look away. I couldn't see anything but hate in her face. She was just . . . she was just glaring at me, breathing heavily, threatening me with her eyes. Heat rushed to my cheeks.

She opened her mouth to say more, but Gobber reached over me and grabbed her shoulder. Sternly, he said, "That's enough."

She huffed and walked away, scooping up her axe as she said, "I'm out of here."

"Uh, Astrid, wait up!" Snotlout ran after her, quickly followed by Ruffnut and Tuffnut. Fishlegs started after them, then hesitated and looked back at me.

Before I could say anything, Gobber waved him off. "Go ahead, Fishlegs. Me and Hiccup need to have a bit of a talk."

A heavy breath left my lungs. I stared at the ground, not wanting to look up and see anyone staring back at me.

Then, there was a hand on both of my shoulders. "You alright, Hiccup."

"Fine." I shrugged out of Gobber's grasp. "Can I go?"

It was one thing to have Astrid screaming at me; it was another thing to have Gobber look at me with such disappointment. The moment I saw that, my face went from red to pale.

"Hiccup," Gobber said gently, "she's right. You got to stop hiding. Start trying."

"I am trying."

He shook his head. "No, you aren't. I see you, Hiccup. You hide behind your shield and let everyone else do their thing. You're not going to slay dragons that way. You got to be adventurous, take a few risks. It's not as hard as it looks. You got your dad's . . . uh . . . well . . . you're still his son."

He went down on his knees. His hands squeezed my shoulders, holding me tight as he whispered, "Dragon fighting is in your blood."

"No." I wrenched away from him. "No, it isn't."

As I marched away from him, intent on getting out of the arena, Gobber called after me. I hardened myself, and then filled my mind with pictures of Toothless and me, until Gobber's voice was nothing more than a buzz.

But then one sentence ruined all that.

"Your dad wants to watch tomorrow."

I froze mid-step. "What?"

Quietly, Gobber said, "He wanted to see how you were doing before he and the other Vikings went to look for the nest."

My mouth was dry. I swallowed, but that didn't make it any better. "He never told me that."

"He wanted it to be a surprise."

"A surprise," I repeated. "Well, you can tell him I'm just _flattered_. Yep. Nothing I like better than embarrassing myself in front of him."

Gobber sighed. "It doesn't have to be like that. Just try a little harder tomorrow. It'll be fine, you'll see."

I whirled around. "You don't understand!"

"I do," Gobber said. "You're scared. We're all scared at the beginning, Hiccup. You just . . . you show it more than the others. _Much_ more."

"No, that's not it!" I cried. "I don't want to fight dragons! I _can't_."

"Of course you can!" Gobber was smiling again. He walked towards me, hands spread. "Every Viking can fight dragons. Even you. You just need a little practice."

"You don't understand. I _can't_ fight dragons! I don't _want_ to fight them."

"Hiccup . . ."

I looked desperately at him, searching for some sign of understanding. But I didn't find it. Not the kind I was looking for.

I could literally hear the fight being sucked out of me. Gobber didn't understand. He _couldn't _understand. He was a Viking, a true Viking that fought and killed dragons. And I was just something else. We were alike on the outside (kind of . . . a little bit?), but on the inside? That was an entirely different story.

Gobber tried to comfort me again, and I pretended to let him. Really, it was unnecessary though. I wasn't upset; I felt nothing.

Just empty.

* * *

"Why? Why did you do that? You had me right there, and you . . . you let me go!"

My shout echoed, and then faded into the air. There was no answer from the Deadly Nadder, and it made me feel helpless. I wondered: had Toothless felt like this when I had first freed him from the rope? Confused? Frightened? Weak? Had the other dragons wondered why the humans had let him go?

My head fell against the door to the Nadder's cage. After the talk with Gobber, I had run into the forest, hoping that Toothless would find me and take my mind off things. But Toothless hadn't shown up today, and instead, I had been left with my thoughts - which, in my world, was as often a dangerous thing as it was helpful. So, now, I was back in the arena. Everyone had left long ago, and it was just me, and the dragons.

"None of you will even talk to me, will you?" I said. It made sense. I was one of the humans that kept attacking them, even if I did none of the actual attacking.

I started to slide down the wall. At one point, it seemed to give way, and I nearly fell backwards. No, the wall wasn't collapsing; I had just reached the flap used to deliver the dragon's food. It was at the bottom of the door, so that Gobber could kick food in and not risk getting burned.

I stared at it, inexplicably curious.

I poked it.

I heard no movement from the other side. That didn't mean anything though. The dragon could be waiting by the flap for me to stick my hand in.

But . . . I was quick. A peek couldn't hurt, could it? Gobber must have looked in all the time, checking on his 'beasties'. It would just be for a second. It wasn't like the Nadder could escape through the flap anyways.

I pulled the flap up, and closed it again really quickly. When the dragon didn't start screeching, I pulled the flap up again.

I cringed when I saw what was inside. All this time, I had been yelling at the Nadder . . . and standing in front of the door to the Zippleback's cage.

The Zippleback was against the far end of the wall. As I held the flap open, a sour smell – a rotten smell – crawled into my nose. Slowly, my eyes adjusted to the light and the source of the stench became evident. There was rotting fish all over, in various states of decay. But why? I examined the scene, shuffling through explanations in my mind, until I finally found one that made sense.

The Zippleback wasn't eating. Why?

Then, I saw a very special fish. It was near the center of the cage, like a barrier between the Zippleback and the fish. And just what was so special about it? Well, it was the same eel (or, the remains of) that Toothless had rejected around a week ago.

I was reaching a horrible conclusion.

For the first time, I was thankful I was so small. It meant I could reach my entire arm in, and most of my upper body. I still was so short to reach the eel, but that was fixed once I looked around and found a stick. Clumsily, I pulled the eel towards me. I picked it up with the stick – hey, not even a Viking was brave enough to grab that things with their hands – and pulled it out of the Zippleback's cage.

Was that it? Did eels freak out Zipplebacks too?

I thought so, especially once I peeked inside the cage a minute later and saw that the Zippleback had moved. It was racing around the cage, gulping down as many of the fresher fish as it could.

I felt terrible. Not only was I a terrible Viking and the worst dragon slayer ever, but even though I had sworn not to fight dragons, here I was, indirectly starving them to death.

I shook my head, driving the thought from my mind. That's when I noticed only one of the Zippleback's head was still eating fish. Where was the other . . .?

Warm air blasted my head.

I looked up.

Found it.

The Zippleback's other head sniffed me. And sniffed some more. It went lower still, bumping my temple. Before it could bite me, I retreated through the flap. Maybe I could sneak some fish for the poor guy, just to make sure he didn't pass out during tomorrow's fight.

Tomorrow . . .

I gulped. Tomorrow, we would be fighting the Zippleback. Dad would be in the audience somewhere, watching. And if he thought I was a disappointment now, then tomorrow . . .

Tomorrow, he would hate me.

* * *

**Review Responses:**

**randomreader WITH a profile: That she did!**

**Jazz: That's good! Personally, I much rather use a laptop over a phone, since laptops seem to have much better autocorrect and I am TERRIBLE at texting X)**

**Them dogs are like "Who is this stranger and why do they smell so weird?!"**

**IcePhoenix2112: But why are they unpublished stories?! **

**The best way to picture the Toothless/Hiccup relationship is to imagine that one day, this little puppy started following you around. It's annoying, but also cute, and sometimes you play with it. Then one day, you see other people picking on the puppy and that's just mean, so you step in to stop it. That's basically what Toothless was doing for Hiccup :)**

**ILOVEPIXELS: ... Well you could always be a rebel and do it _without asking_ (GASP!) Don't take me seriously. I don't want to be a bad influence XD**

**Aw, thank you! As for advice in writing, I would say to do some reading on what makes a good story. I basically learned how to write through researching how to write well (and also through researching bad stories and how NOT to write, which is a really important aspect that I think a lot of people forget about). Granted, it might not work well for you; the reason it worked so well for me is because I have a very pattern/science-oriented mind. So, if it doesn't work, I would suggest you just read a lot of good stories and look for patterns/similarities in those :)**


	12. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

It was a dark, stormy night.

Okay, so it was actually a crisp morning and the sun was shining brightly, but I think the previous description better matched my mood. We were in the arena fighting the Zippleback today, and although I couldn't see him, I knew Dad was hiding somewhere , watching. I hoped he wanted to see his son make an utter fool of himself, because that was exactly what he was going to get.

I held my water-filled bucket close. Zippleback, Zippleback . . . where were you? It must have been five minutes so far, and the Zippleback had done nothing but tease us. It would poke its head out of the gas cloud, giggle at us, and then retreat again. It liked to do that. I couldn't blame it; it must have been boring sitting around in a cage all day.

Shouting. From what I gleamed, Snotlout or Tuffnut (or both) had tossed their water at the girls. They all continued to argue for a few more seconds, and then the screams rose in intensity and tone –

Silence.

I heard Fishlegs gulp. We were standing back-to-back, keeping an eye out for the dragon.

"Hiccup . . ."

"Gobber would have stepped in if it was bad," I said dully. "They're fine . . ."

The Zippleback's staccato laugh bounced around the arena, so that it seemed to come from everywhere. Fishlegs and I went silent.

Then, I nearly fell forward as Fishlegs scampered forwards.

"I got it!"

I turned just in time to see Fishlegs douse the Zippleback's head.

He dropped his bucket. "Wow, I did it. I actually –"

A cloud of gas escaped from between the Zippleback's damp jaws.

Fishlegs had doused the wrong head.

That was enough for him. He promptly fled, leaving me behind with the Zippleback. I was faintly aware of Gobber cheering for me, but most of my attention was on the head that would light the gas.

Well, here goes . . .

I tossed my bucket.

The water rose about a foot in the air, then promptly fell back to earth.

Of _course_ it did.

Gobber shouted again. This time, he didn't sound so joyful. And I picked my way backwards, trying to find a safe spot to stand so that I didn't explode along with the gas, but it was everywhere.

The Zippleback came close. _Really _close. Gas poured out, cloaking us in a thick white fog that made it impossible for me to see anyone else . . . or for them to see us. As I watched, the Zipplback's eyes widened, turning from slits to circles. One head was peering at my face; the other went up and over me . . .

Scales grazed my back.

From behind, one of the Zippleback's heads nudged me, sending me right into the other one. My hands instinctively shot out to balance myself, with one passing into the space between the dragon's open jaws. But it didn't bite down. If anything, it seemed until I had drawn my hand back to safety before closing its mouth.

And the head came forwards. It pressed against my chest, then slid upwards. The rough scales were rather unpleasant on my skin, but not painful. The Zippleback glanced at me, blinked, and then rubbed its cheek against mine. Behind me, the other head nuzzled my neck.

Okay, I had no idea what was going on. The dragon was making this rumbling sound, like . . . like one of Toothless's weird purrs.

Both heads were in front of me now. Awkwardly, I said, "Uh, hi."

The dragon trilled.

What was going on? Where was the fighting, the growling, the lighting-me-on-fire? This seemed very undragon-like to me.

Tell that to the Zippleback though, because that's what it seemed set on acting like. I had no idea why it would act this way; I mean, we never even saw each other outside of –

But we had, hadn't we? And . . . and I think I might understand: it was the eel. The Zippleback's happy that I took the eel away, and it's . . . thanking me?

But dragons don't do that. They don't thank people; they don't like people. Dragons always go for the kill –

But it hadn't. And neither had the Nadder.

Neither had Toothless.

After the things Toothless and I had done together, I must have subconsciously known; consciously, however, this was the first time that I acknowledged it: dragons were vastly more complicated than we had given them credit for.

The Zippleback slithered back into the fog. I heard it hiss as it ran into someone – Gobber, by the sound of it – then there was a loud bang, and the Zippleback was silent.

The gas was clearing. I could faintly make out the faces of the other teens, all of whom had the same dumbstruck expression. Even further off, there was a massive shadow approaching.

This couldn't be good.

"You're alive?" Dad said slowly.

Dryly, I answered, "You don't have to sound so surprised."

"You . .. it . . ." He stumbled a bit over his words. "The dragon had you, and yet . . . you're unharmed."

"I don't know. My hair got messed up quite a bit, and I don't think my self-esteem will ever be the same."

"How did this happen?" Dad demanded.

From behind, Snotlout snorted, "He probably did nothing. Again."

Dad just looked at him, and Snotlout shut up pretty quickly. Dad said, "Hiccup?"

I shrugged. "I don't know."

Dad looked like he had just seen a dragon that could talk "Gobber!" he barked. "Is this what usually goes on here?"

Gobber held his hands up in a placating manner. "Now, Stoick, remember: he's still learning. Everyone makes mistakes at that age."

"What usually happens, Gobber?"

Gobber winced. "Well, Hiccup, he . . . he doesn't do too much. He doesn't like to fight. Not against dragons, at least."

"Doesn't like to fight dragons?" Dad repeated, aghast.

"Dad –"

Dad turned on me. "We had a deal, Hiccup."

"Yeah, a very one-sided deal if you asked me," I grumbled.

Dad, of course, didn't listen. "You told me there would be no more of this . . . this strangeness."

"Uh, last time I checked, you said that. And way to fracture my already battered self-esteem . . ."

"I'm being serious!"

The sudden shout caught me off-guard. I couldn't see him, but I still felt Gobber flinch.

Dad, towering above me like an angry Nightmare, said, "Hiccup, you aren't a child anymore. It is time for you to become a Viking."

"But that doesn't mean I have to fight –"

"I'm heading to the docks now, Gobber." Dad turned towards him, consequently turning his back on me. "See that . . . keep up the training."

No one spoke as Dad left the arena. Hardly anyone would look at me. Even Snotlout, who normally would be jumping all over this opportunity, was silent and refused to meet my eyes.

And that's what made it so bad. I think if it had just been us, just me and him, I could have handled this. But Dad, he . . . he had done it in front of _everyone_. _Again_. And I . . . I . . .

I needed to get out of here.

I ignored Gobber and forced my way out of the arena (I say forced because those doors are _heavy_!). My feet, on instinct, going against what my logical mind probably would have liked, brought me to a cliff that offered a nice view of the docks and the Vikings upon it. One of them would be my Dad, preparing for yet another ultimately useless hunt for the dragon nest.

I sat there and watched. As the day wore on and the boats were fully loaded, it finally dawned on me.

Dad didn't say goodbye.

* * *

**Apparently this story has been added to a community. No one's taken credit for that, but thank you whoever you are!**

**Review Response:**

**IcePhoenix2112: I concede. The not finished thing is a good reason :) I used to only publish my stories once they were at least halfway done, just so I could avoid that. **

**Ooo Tim Bowler~ I'll admit that I've never read of his books, but I've seen Sea of Whispers around before. What did you two talk about?**

**Greath: Plan? Hiccup needs no plan!**

**ILOVEPIXELS: But I was serious. Or was I? You'll never know!**

**I know about Slenderman, but I don't know what M.C. stands for. (Multiple choice?!)**

**I wouldn't worry too much over the fact you hate writing for school. Essay writing, in general, is boring. Even if you wrote fictional stories for class though, fanfiction is more fun because you don't have that pressure of getting a good mark :) (Little confused... Your sister is expecting you to ask about getting an account or something else?)**

**About other people not responding, I wouldn't take it personally. Part of it depends on the writer (a lot of writers just don't respond to guest reviews or reviews in general if they get too many of them), part of it depends on the review. (Something like "Great chapter!" is hard to respond to in any depth, so some people just won't). Whatever the reason, I am 99.9% sure it has nothing to do with you personally.**

**Aw, it's great to hear that! Although I'll be modest here and say it probably wasn't just me :) Tell your BFF I say hi back!**


	13. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

For the first time in a long while, when I ran into the woods, it was with no desire to see Toothless. Naturally, the infuriating reptile sensed my urge to be completely alone and found me. Which was just great. Because all I wanted right now was _more_ dragons.

"I don't have any food," I said. "Scram."

Toothless ignored me and crept up to me, making his 'Hello' noises.

Slowly, I said, "I don't have anything. Go away."

I stomped past him. I could hear Toothless chuffing behind me. Then, something tugged at my pants.

"_Go away!_" I shouted, making Toothless jump. "I don't want you here! Go. Go back to the rest of your kind!"

Toothless stared at me like a big, dumb animal.

Furious, I demanded. "Why are you still here?"

Toothless cocked his head, as if considering.

He lunged.

Before I could even blink, he had the back of my collar in his teeth. I tried to fight, but he was _huge_, not to mention strong. So, he happily trotted along, dragging me by the scruff of my vest. My feet dug into the dirt, but I don't think he even noticed.

"You have no idea how much I hate you right now."

Toothless pulled me all the way to the edge of the cove. By that time, I was insanely bored, and had resorted to counting the scales on his body (a hundred and twenty three, so far). The way he was holding me meant I was facing the ground, and I had a good view of the drop into the cove. And it was more than large enough to make me nervous.

"Toothless, what are you doing?" I glanced back and for the first time, noticed his wings were open.

No. There was no way he would –

He did.

I screamed. Even though Toothless was technically holding me, it very much felt like falling through the sky. The cove's floor was coming towards us at a dizzyingly speed and, unlike Toothless apparently, I had no experience with or desire to crash into the earth.

Toothless jerked back. I did, too, but only for a second. My arms slid neatly out of the vest, and then I was falling –

Claws hooked into my shirt. Once again, my vertical motion drew to a sudden halt. Now, we were flying flat towards the other end of the cove, and honestly, it wasn't much better because we were moving fast enough that I just felt like I was falling sideways.

"Toothless, stop! Let me down."

Toothless glanced at me.

_He let go_.

I was falling –

. . .

The water was very cold.

"Stupid . . . I hate you," I said to Toothless, who had dove into the water and was now paddling near me. I plucked my loose vest off his head and put it on. "I'm being serious. I don't think I've ever hated _anything _as much as I do . . ."

My voice was drowned out by a huge wave of water. I wrung my hair. There was no way Toothless didn't do that on purpose. Toothless started laughing at me, so I splashed him back. Or at least tried to. The splash didn't nearly far enough.

Toothless laughed some more, then swam away.

"Oh no, you don't!" I swam after him. Swimming was something I could actually do, despite what others might say, and considering the slow speed at which Toothless was swimming, catching up was pretty easy.

I splashed him. Toothless casually glanced at me.

He sucked in a mouthful of water, and then sprayed me.

I wiped my face. "You . . ."

Toothless laughed.

I growled, "Get over here!"

Toothless swam just out of reach, still laughing. He tried to swim past me, and well, I couldn't dunk his head under the water like I wanted, so I clambered on top of him instead. It seemed like a good spot. I could splash him easily (which I did), he couldn't really get me . . .

But he could flip over.

Thankfully, by the time he did, we were in the shallow part. I coughed and stood, the water up to my waist. Toothless stared at me; I could just _feel _innocence radiating from him.

"Yes, thank you for that." I whisked some liquid off my shoulders. "That's _just_ what I needed. You –"

I spluttered as water crashed into my face.

"Ha, ha," I said. "_Real _funny. Now if it doesn't interfere with your 'Let's Pick on the Hiccup' day, I'm –"

More water.

"What's wrong with you? I . . ."

Water.

"I hate –"

Water.

"Toothless!"

A pause. Then a little bit of water.

"That's it!" I threw my entire body into the splash, with the result being that I completely drenched Toothless's head. He seemed shocked more than anything.

That'll teach him to underestimate me.

I grinned. "Not so smug now, are you?"

Toothless sat down. His mouth slowly curled into that toothless imitation of a smile. A twinge of real amusement tugged at my lips. I quickly replaced it with a scowl.

"I'm still mad at you," I said. "All of –"

_Splash_.

I sighed. Soaked, shivering, I decided to cut my losses and surrender. "Fine. I'm not mad."

Toothless rumbled in satisfaction. He stood up to get out of the water, and marched towards the shore. Before he got there though, he leaned over and plucked me up by the scruff of my vest again. Because why not? Even if the other Vikings remind me I'm a runt every day, there's still a possibility I could forget. And that would be terrible, so why shouldn't we have the dragon remind me, too?

At least he wasn't rough when he put me down, which almost made up for when he had dropped me into the water. After that, he shuddered, as if cold. Or maybe he just didn't like the taste of me. Good to know.

I set to the task of wringing out my vest. Toothless was stretched out next to me. Now that we had kind of made amends, I was starting to think clearly again. And with that, came guilt.

"I wasn't actually mad at you," I confessed. "It's just been a rough day. My dad was watching the dragon training, and . . . well, you don't know what that is, but all you need to know is that I screwed up."

I tossed my vest to the ground. "Just another day in the life of Hiccup the Useless."

I glanced sideways to see Toothless was no longer there. Well, he was, but he had moved about a yard away to bask in the sun. Just when I was starting to feel pathetic for venting to a dragon that was ignoring me, Toothless lifted his head. His stare seemed to say '_continue_'.

So, I did. "And here I am, talking to a dragon. I'm really climbing up the social ladder here."

I scooted closer to Toothless. He had his wings out on either side, and I thought I could see a little bit of steam rising from his body. Eyes closed, he purred to himself, and rubbed his chin on the ground. I was little more than a few feet away.

Quietly, I said, "It's weird to think that you might be one of the only friends I have."

Toothless opened his eyes, and blinked. He crooned curiously.

At that moment, I must have stopped thinking, because I lifted my arm automatically, and reached out. My hand was an inch away from his snout when I froze. A good thing too, because his eyes had narrowed into slits, and he was starting to huff.

"Right. Sorry." I dragged my other hand through my hair. "You know, you don't have to hang out with me. It's fine. I'll survive."

Toothless studied me. I looked away. The hand that had been reaching out before drifted back towards my chest. Toothless may have been one of the only friends I had, but that didn't make us _friends_. It just meant that he was willing to put up with me. We weren't actual friends. Not really. Especially considering –

What was that? I could feel something smooth in my palm. It lasted for a few moments, then faded. At that point, I looked back to Toothless.

He stared back at me.

Very deliberately, he pressed his head against my hand.

* * *

**Review Responses:**

**randomreader WITH a profile: We will have to see :)**

**Guest: Thanks!**

**Jazz: Well, you say you don't mind, but I still find that depressing. I'm really close to my parents (apparently I'm a clone of my father... which is either a compliment or insult depending on the situation) so not having a relationship with your parents in my eyes really sucks :(**

**IcePhoenix2112: Well, if you want more, I would suggest How Not to Write a Novel. Good advice, plus it's funny as hell. :D**

**Stoic's... interesting. I don't think I'd like him much if he was mine or my friend's dad, but I like having him around as a character.**

**ILOVEPIXELS: Turtles! I remember they had a painted turtle at the mall once, and it kept chasing my finger around because it wanted to bite it :)**

**Okay, enough rambling. Thanks for spreading the word! (My goal of world domination is that much closer...) I'm afraid I can't tell you how many of them came by because I have no idea!**

**Oh, don't worry. I know Minecraft. It's just midterm season so M.C. currently means multiple choice to me.**

**It's a hard art to master, but if you work at it, I'm sure you'll be fine :) If you're nervous, consider seeking out a beta or two. They'll help with the basic stuff, and from there, it's a matter of finding your voice and figuring out what does and doesn't work (the internet is a good help for that).**

**lol yes you can call me Arca.**

**On the matter of your offer, I'll have to decline being your OC on the basis of privacy. I hate to say it, but one of the things I really love about this site is the anonymity. Being an actual character in a story is really outside my comfort zone. Likewise, I have too many writing projects I want to work on to consider a collaborative work (is that what they're called?) right now. (Not to mention I would totally hijack your story...). Sorry :(**

**...But does Hatman wear a lobster hat? (I had one once. Don't ask)**

******(And about what you should call yourself... do what I did and ask your sibling to chose a name for you! XD)**


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